How Civilizations Die

Machiavelli's Virtue

Machiavelli saw that Christianity had made Italy weak, servile, and prey to criminal men. His answer: ground politics in "what is", not imagined republics — and dare great men to act on it. The consequences founded the modern world. Duncan Umphrey joins us to discuss the Machiavelli's virtue.

The Machine Gun Killed Democracy

Ben Landau-Taylor discusses Carroll Quigley's thesis on how weapons systems shape political order—how military technology determines whether a society ends up democratic, authoritarian, or something else entirely.

The War that Destroyed the Greek World

The Peloponnesian War destroyed the Greek world and exposed the violence behind the civilized facade, much like the World Wars of the 20th century. Maxim Dmitrienko walks us through Thucydides' timeless History.

Why Study Greek Philosophy?

Should a student of the 21st century read Plato and Aristotle? Stephen Pimentel explains how Greek philosophy helps us to see past the conceits of our own era.

How Civilizations Die

Carroll Quigley's 1961 book The Evolution of Civilizations describes the stages a civilization goes through as it grows, expands, decays, and falls. Ben Landau-Taylor tells us how Quigley's theory works, and where our civilization sits in this process today.